£18,000 in the red

Lucy Hird is £18k in the red… but still splashes out on £150 nights out twice a week

Lucy Hird, 31, lives in north London and works as an account director.

Lucy says:

“I first got into debt at just 13 when I ran up a £100 phone bill that my dad made me promise to pay back. Since then, I don’t remember a time I didn’t owe someone money.

“By 20, I was £5,000 in the red after crashing my car a couple of times and having to pay for repairs.

“Plus, I owed £1,000 on my mobile phone bill and had racked up £2,000 on store cards.

“I had two jobs at the time, in a forklift company and as a bar manager, so I paid off bits of the debt regularly. But to be honest, it didn’t bother me much – I was too focused on having fun.

“When I was 21 I went to work on a cruise ship for a year.

“Earning up to £800 a week with no outgoings, I managed to pay off all my debts – but that didn’t last long.

“The following year I began studying media and communications at Birmingham City University, and spending around £100 a week on going out alongside my £3,000 a year tuition fees, I felt financially crippled.

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“I graduated in 2012 – with a student loan debt of £13,000. But I quickly managed to get a job in PR on an £18,000 salary and slowly began paying back my loan.

“By last year, I’d been promoted and was earning around £2,000 a month.

“I’d got my student debt down to £8,000, but thanks to my rent, bills and a hectic social calendar that saw me spend about £600 a month, I racked up a £3,000 debt on my credit card.

“I knew if I cut back for a few months I could pay off a lot of it, but I wasn’t prepared to give up my social life.

“In July 2016, I took an unpaid sabbatical for three months to travel around North and South America, which added to my debts.

“It sounds mad as I was already well in the red, but I knew I had to spread my wings before I settled down, and I’d put aside a bit of spending money for it.

£7,000 in the red

“Ten years ago, I was a self-employed music promoter earning £1,800 a month, and business was great.

“I rented a stylish flat in London, went out for dinner a couple of times a week and joined a flashy gym.

“Now, though, I’m in my 40s, £7,000 in debt and living in my cousin’s spare room.

“Before I hit 40 I’d never been in debt, but in 2008 I decided to take out a £10,000 loan to expand my music promotion business.

“I paid off £170 a month, which I could easily afford on the money I was earning.

“Just two years later, however, work had completely dried up and I was left with no income.

“I tried to pay the bills with admin temping work, but nothing lasted long enough for me to get a grip on my finances.

“In the end, I had no choice but to give up my apartment and all the little luxuries I used to enjoy, like my gym membership and expensive dinners.

“After sofa surfing for a few weeks at friends’ places, I rented a room in a house with four students for £200 a month.

“My housemates were lovely, but it was humiliating and heartbreaking having to start all over again.

How to get back in

If you’re struggling with debt, Seaneen James has this advice:

Consolidate your debts. Managing multiple payments can be stressful and time-consuming, so rather than paying off lots of loans, speak to your bank or a debt advice agency to get one that covers them all.

Set yourself goals. Use an online loan calculator to work out how much you need to pay off each week and how long for in order to be in the clear.

Get a 0% balance transfer. This can cut thousands off the cost of existing borrowing if you have credit card debt, so you can become debt-free quicker.

“I’d just turned 40 and it felt like I’d gone right back to square one.